Music For Good Friday
  • hansensetiady
    Posts: 4
    Dear all,

    Can you recommend some songs for Good Friday...
    Preferably an acapella piece would be best...

    Thx in advance
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    All of the music you'll need, plus rehearsal mp3s:
    http://www.christusrex.org/www2/cantgreg/feria_sexta_in_passione_domini.html
    Thanked by 2canadash expeditus1
  • hansensetiady
    Posts: 4
    wow.... some is quite interesting... got any suggestion for non-gregorian music score? We once did Brucker's Christus Factus Est... It really grow on us, it is still very much classical as well as both challenging and rewarding....
    Thanked by 1canadash
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WZRw26l7fA
    Thanked by 1E_A_Fulhorst
  • Ralph BednarzRalph Bednarz
    Posts: 493
    This is one of the communion antiphons "One of the soldiers opened His side with a spear and at once there flowed blood and water" It was Suggested lat year by Paul Ford. from the SEP for the Sacred Heart.- a good sorce for antiphons . The choir likes this Frsisna " Anima Christe"

  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    Palestrina's Adoramus Te (in the Catholic Choir Book) is proper, and and an easy first-foray into Renaissance polyphony.
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    This Lotti setting of Adoramus Te is superb. It's usually referred to as Adoramus Te, 2.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8qI23IrG-Y
    Thanked by 1E_A_Fulhorst
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    Wow, stunning piece, CHG!
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    I first discovered and sang this piece with the Chamber Singers at the University of Virginia, eons ago it seems, although in reality not quite 40 years ago.
  • hansensetiady
    Posts: 4
    agreed with noel, Adoramus Te is very stunning, will definately put it on the shortlist...
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    Aristotle Esguerra has a great polyphonic (SATB, if memory serves) setting of crucem tuam, for the adoration of the holy cross. There's a video somewhere on youtube [edit:] which i've posted below.
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY2LwquQljM
  • hansensetiady
    Posts: 4
    Thx Ben... the polyphonic sound is great, the male voice dominate a little on this piece, start searching the music score now to check whether this is do-able for my choir..
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    It's on CDPL, but his website crashed a while back.

    I had it on my PC, so I put it up on my server for you all to use.
  • jpal
    Posts: 365
    Unfinished, but perhaps still useful if you need a minute to fill.
    crux_fideles.pdf
    122K
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    I don't want seem rude, but six flats and double-flat accidentals seems ludicrous for a voice-only work that has no internal key changes. How about D-minor?
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    jpal ... the tessitura for the bass/baritone part seems rather high, which suggests to me that lowering the work a half step to D minor or a whole step to C-sharp minor would yield a work that is easier for singers to negotiate. I happen to like it in C-sharp minor, because of an old tradition that the note C-sharp Cross and/or Crucifixion – although C-sharp is more frequently encountered in this context at the leading tone to D in the key of D-minor, such as in the Bach Cantata "Ich will den Kreuzstab' gerne tragen." Since your minor mode setting is pretty much devoid of raised 7th degrees as leading tones, making C-sharp the tonic seems a choice that would honor this venerable old tradition.
  • jpal
    Posts: 365
    I don't have a problem with D minor or C# minor! Like many others here, I compose more often out of necessity than inspiration. The choice of E-flat minor was very practical. I had three very good singers to work with: a high tenor and two sopranos. The piece was composed particularly for their voices and their ranges, and I never really intended to distribute it. If I remember correctly, I actually wrote it in D minor first, and then transposed it up later.

    I'd be happy to transposed for anyone interested. But like I said, it's not finished.

    Charles, I was not aware of traditions relating C-sharp to the Cross. Fascinating! That could certainly apply here. If I ever get around to continuing it, I might put it in a reasonable key and shoot you a copy.
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    The choice of E-flat minor was very practical. I had three very good singers to work with: a high tenor and two sopranos.


    Maybe the parts as written should be labelled SST or SAT then? And, yes, I'd be interested to see the continuation. Thanks!
Add a Comment